Movie review: Remarkable Power!’ redeemed by clever ending

By Amy HotzStaff Writer

Wednesday

Feb 25, 2009 at 3:43 PMFeb 25, 2009 at 3:45 PM

Carmike Cinemas’ Independent Film Series continues next week with “Remarkable Power!” The feature-length comedy/mystery stars Kevin Nealon, Tom Arnold, Nora Zehetner, Kip Pardue, Dulé Hill and Christopher Titus.The movie revolves around three seemingly unrelated stories.A late night talk host (Nealon) masterminds an elaborate scheme to save his canceled show and avenge his wife’s affair. On the other side of town, Arnold is a private eye who teams with a macabre Web-mistress (Zehetner) to investigate the strange disappearance of a dead body. In the final storyline, a couple of actors (Pardue and Hill) embark on a quest for a fresh corpse in order to keep the Russian mob happy.The movie has elements of Guy Ritchie’s “Snatch” – the multiple plot lines, the Russian mob, the Jewish bad guys and even some wanton displays of gore and drug use. But the humor in “Remarkable Power!” seems, somehow, less dark and a little dorkier. And the cinematography is not as artful. But a clever ending makes up for some slow goings.The film is unrated, but it’s probably a good idea to leave the kids at home. Pardue’s character is a soft-core porn actor and Whitney Able is caught on tape cheating on her husband. That footage is shown repeatedly.This is the feature debut for writer/director Brandon Beckner. The picture was produced by Scott Sampila, who co-wrote the screenplay with Beckner. Executive producers are Arnold, Mark Lawrence, Jerod Foos, and David Florimbi. The Carmike Independent Film Series runs for 12 weeks at Carmike 16, 111 Cinema Drive. For more information, visit http://independentfilmseries.com or www.MySpace.com/RemarkablePower.Amy Hotz: 343-2099amy.hotz@starnewsonline.com

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